


Possible (39/39)

by Mexta



Series: Possible [39]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M, post-412
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 12:10:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3119708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mexta/pseuds/Mexta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mandy</p>
<p>***This is it!  The final installment of <em>Possible</em>.  I’ve published one part each week from the end of season 4 to the beginning of season 5.  This was meant to be my vision for what happens to Ian and Mickey during the months between the two seasons.  Of course we know now that season 5 doesn't transpire in any way that’s consistent with this series but nonetheless - mission accomplished!  To everyone who has commented or given kudos or just followed the story - <b>thank you so much for supporting me along the way</b>.***</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possible (39/39)

Somewhat to Mickey’s surprise, the cops actually took Ian’s allegation seriously. A pair of them came over to the house within half an hour of Lip’s phone call.

Mickey had taken Ian aside while they waited, trying to talk sense into him about what would be involved, how they’d have to describe the scene multiple times, maybe in front of a judge; how they’d be laughed out of court, mocked, told they got what they deserved. But Ian had remained stubbornly determined and when the cops separated the three of them — Ian, Mickey, Svetlana — and asked them each to describe what happened, Mickey could only back him up by telling the truth.

Afterwards the two cops had conferred, looking at their notebooks and speaking in quiet undertones, coming back to ask both Ian and Mickey repeatedly how old they were, how old they’d been at the time, who their guardians were. Lip did some fast talking for Ian, and Mickey produced ID that showed he’d hit his 18th birthday before it all happened, and eventually the cops stopped talking about foster care and asked them to come into the station the next day to sign their statements so that charges could be laid against Terry.

"That’ll keep him in for a few more months," Lip crowed as the door shut behind the cops. "And we just need one more to put him away for life. I’m sure it can’t be that hard to come up with a few serious felonies Terry’s committed. Home invasion? Selling drugs by the projects? Come on, man, there’s gotta be something else you can nail your dad for."

Mickey and his brothers looked at each other and shrugged, stumped. Even Svetlana and Ian seemed out of ideas.

Then Lip looked down at his phone again. “Sex assault under 13?” 

And Ian suddenly dug his elbow into Mickey’s rib. “Mandy,” he whispered.

 

***

 

It took some time. Mickey wouldn’t even talk about it with Ian until they’d gotten rid of Lip and moved to the privacy of his bedroom. They could still hear Mandy in her own room, slamming dresser drawers and snapping suitcases shut. 

Mickey sat on the end of the bed, cigarette between his fingers as he rubbed his eyes. “I can’t, man. I ain’t asking my sister how young she was the first time my dad _mistook_ her for my mom. I just can’t.”

"Maybe she needs to be free of him too," Ian said, putting a hand on Mickey’s shoulder. "Maybe you all do, in your own ways."

Mickey shook his head. “I ain’t asking her, Gallagher. Not to do that.”

"I’ll talk to her."

"If she don’t want to — "

"I’m not going to force her into anything. She’s my best friend. I’m just gonna give her the option. Let her know we’ll all back her up. Tell her — she doesn’t need to live with it anymore, if she doesn’t want to."

It took all night but by morning Mickey had resigned himself to Ian’s determination. After breakfast he ordered his brothers and Svetlana and Nika out of the house, and took Yvegeni with him to school, leaving Ian alone with Mandy for the day.

 

***

 

Mickey had never understood how Ian and Mandy became so close. Ian had a way of smoothing off her rough edges, like some kind of horse-whisperer for tough girls. She listened to him like she never did to anyone else - not to Mickey, or Lip, or anyone Mickey could remember, except maybe, once upon a time, their mother.

In the end she still left, but not before she agreed to testify against their father. She’d been twelve the first time, and she told her story to a closed courtroom with such quiet conviction that no one doubted her, not the judge or the social workers or even the court-appointed lawyer who represented Terry.

Afterward the social workers wanted to take her into custody. Mickey offered to apply for her guardianship but even he didn’t believe that would work. Instead she simply disappeared, walking out the door with two suitcases while the rest of them were at the courthouse watching Terry’s three strikes proceeding. 

He never even got out of jail. At first Mickey had worried that they’d be seen as narcs ratting out their father, and become permanent targets for Terry’s friends and cronies. But it turned out Terry didn’t have any friends; even his criminal partners had never actually liked him, and once the stories got out about what his convictions were for sentiment turned against him completely. In fact almost everyone had been terrorized by him at one time or another, and it seemed like the whole southside showed up at the courthouse to watch him convicted and sentenced to prison for life.

That night bonfires burned in oil drums, music blared out of car stereos, and the whole neighbourhood celebrated the end of Terry Milkovich.

 

***

 

Ian and Mickey walked back to the Milkovich house together, and Mickey didn’t even object to Ian’s arm around his waist. They’d run into Uncle Ronnie on the street and not only had he confirmed that the house belonged to him as well as Terry, he also told them he had no problem with the kids taking over his brother’s share.

"Mandy’s gone," Ian said, looking at a text on his phone.

Mickey nodded. “Don’t blame her,” he said, though he couldn’t help but glance down and add, “Wish I’d see her again some time.”

"We will," Ian said, nudging him with a smile. 

"Nah. When people leave here, they never come back."

"Then we’ll go see her."

"How are we — "

"Doesn’t matter, Mickey. We’ll figure it out. You and me — we can do anything."

Mickey started to protest, but he saw Ian’s serene expression and stopped himself. _For Ian_ , he thought suddenly, _all things_ are _possible_.

"I mean," Ian went on, squeezing his arm around Mickey’s shoulder, "Who’d’a thought you’d be graduating high school in a month?"

"Who says I’m gonna fucking graduate?" Mickey groused. "We don’t know that."

"If not now, then later. It doesn’t matter. What matters is, I was right. It’s a redemption tale."

For the first time in his life, Mickey felt like he understood what freedom meant. For once there was nothing lurking in the darkness that could jump out at any moment to end his hard-won happiness. Not that he had any illusions about his future — between a bipolar boyfriend, hooker wife, criminal family, and needy baby, there was no shortage of disaster waiting to happen. But maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t fucked for life.

  

  

\-- end --


End file.
